Place Charles de Gaulle (), historically known as the Place de l'Étoile (), is a large

road junction A junction is where two or more roads meet. History Roads began as a means of linking locations of interest: towns, forts and geographic features such as river fords. Where roads met outside of an existing settlement, these junctions often led ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, the meeting point of twelve straight avenues (hence its historic name, which translates as "Square of the Star") including the

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is l ...

. It was renamed in 1970 following the death of President Charles de Gaulle. It is still often referred to by its original name; the nearby Métro and RER station retains the designation

Charles de Gaulle–Étoile Charles de Gaulle–Étoile () is a station on Line 1, Line 2 and Line 6 of the Paris Métro, as well as on Île-de-France's commuter rail RER A. It lies on the border of the 8th, 16th and 17th arrondissements of Paris. Originally calle ...

. Paris's ''

Axe historique The ''Axe historique'' (; "historical axis") is a line of monuments, buildings, and thoroughfares that extends from the centre of Paris, France, to the west. It is also known as the ''Voie Triomphale'' (; "triumphal way"). The Axe Historique ...

'' ("historical axis") cuts through the Arc de Triomphe, which stands at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle.

History

The original name of the area was the ''Butte Chaillot'' ("Chaillot mound", named after the locality). At the time it was the point of convergence of several hunting trails. The Marquis de Marigny constructed monumental roadworks, completed in 1777, on the mound when he was establishing the plantations along the Champs-Élysées. This work included paving of the road in the form of a star, as it still exists today. The junction became known as the Place de l'Étoile. Pedestrian access to the Arc de Triomphe itself is via pedestrian underpass, to avoid the confluence of vehicular traffic from the juncture of twelve radiating avenues. In 1787, during the construction of the Farmers-General Wall (''Mur des Fermiers généraux''), la ''Barrière de l'Étoile'' (also known as the ''Barrière de Neuilly'') was built to the design of

Claude Nicolas Ledoux Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (21 March 1736 – 18 November 1806) was one of the earliest exponents of French Neoclassical architecture. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not only domestic architecture but also town planning; as ...

for the collection of the

octroi Octroi (; fro, octroyer, to grant, authorize; Lat. ''auctor'') is a local tax collected on various articles brought into a district for consumption. Antiquity The word itself is of French origin. Octroi taxes have a respectable antiquity, bein ...

tax at the entrance to Paris. The wall and the two buildings built on either side of the Place de l'Étoile were demolished in the nineteenth century. The modern Place Charles de Gaulle and the avenues radiating from it were created during the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France. Historians in the 1930 ...

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

as part of

Haussmann's renovation of Paris Haussmann's renovation of Paris was a vast public works programme commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III and directed by his prefect of Seine, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, between 1853 and 1870. It included the demolition of medieval neighbourh ...

.de Moncan, Patrice, ''Le Paris de Haussmann'', Les Editions du Mecene, 2012 ().

Description

Map

Place Charles-de-Gaulle, Paris - OSM 2021

Avenues

The twelve avenues, clockwise from the north, are the following: #

Avenue de Wagram Avenue de Wagram is a street in the 8th and 17th arrondissements of Paris, extending from the Place de Wagram to the Place Charles de Gaulle (formerly ''Place de l'Étoile'', and the site of the Arc de Triomphe). It is long and wide, and is ...

(thus called since the Second Empire) and Boulevard de l'Étoile or Boulevard Bezons before #

Avenue Hoche The Avenue Hoche is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Location The avenue runs the intersection at 67, Rue de Courcelles and the Place du Général-Brocard all the way to the Place Charles de Gaulle and its Arc de Triomphe, ...

: Avenue de la Reine-Hortense during the Second Empire and Boulevard Monceau before # Avenue de Friedland since the Second Empire and Boulevard Beaujon before #

Avenue des Champs-Élysées Avenue or Avenues may refer to: Roads * Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees) * Avenue Road, Bangalore * Avenue Road, Lon ...

Avenue Marceau The Avenue Marceau () is an avenue in Paris, France, marking the boundary between its 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th and 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements. History Named after General François Sé ...

: Avenue Joséphine during the Second Empire #

Avenue d'Iéna The Avenue d'Iéna is a tree-lined avenue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, running from the Trocadéro (Avenue Albert De Mun) to the Place de l'Étoile. Passing through Place d'Iéna, Place de l'Amiral de Grasse, Place de l'Uruguay and Place ...

Avenue Kléber Avenue Kléber is an avenue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, one of the twelve avenues that converge on Place Charles de Gaulle. It was named after Jean Baptiste Kléber, a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. Before 1879, it wa ...

: Avenue du Roi-de-Rome during the Second Empire and Boulevard de Passy before # Avenue Victor Hugo: Avenue d' Eylau during the Second Empire and Avenue de

Saint-Cloud Saint-Cloud () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. Like other communes of Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine and Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of France's wealthiest tow ...

before #

Avenue Foch Avenue Foch () is an avenue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France, named after World War I Marshal Ferdinand Foch in 1929. It is one of the most prestigious streets in Paris, and one of the most expensive addresses in the world, home to ...

: Avenue du Bois during the Third Republic and Avenue de l' Impératrice during the Second Empire # Avenue de la Grande Armée during the Second Empire and Avenue de

Neuilly Neuilly (, ) is a common place name in France, deriving from the male given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as we ...

before # Avenue Carnot: Avenue d'

Essling Essling
Essling entry in the Viennese government's history wiki (German) () is part of

during the Second Empire # Avenue Mac-Mahon: Avenue du Jérôme Bonaparte, Prince-Jérôme during the Second Empire The square is surrounded by two streets forming a circle around it: the

Rue de Presbourg Rue de Presbourg is a street in the 8th and 16th arrondissements of Paris, France. Since 1864 it has been named after Napoleon's 1805 diplomatic success at the Peace of Pressburg and, with the Rue de Tilsitt Rue de Tilsitt is a street in ...

and

Rue de Tilsitt Rue de Tilsitt is a street in the 8th and 17th arrondissements of Paris. It is one of two streets which form a circle around the Place de l’Étoile (renamed the Place Charles-de-Gaulle in 1970) - the other is the Rue de Presbourg. It was n ...

, which have been so named since 1864, after diplomatic successes of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

which led to the signing of the Treaty of Presbourg in 1805 and the

Treaties of Tilsit The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Napoleon and Russian Emperor Alexander, when ...

in 1807.

Axes

The Place Charles de Gaulle is symmetrical and thus has six axes: # Axis Avenue

Mac-Mahon Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de MacMahon, marquis de MacMahon, duc de Magenta (; 13 June 1808 – 17 October 1893) was a French general and politician, with the distinction of Marshal of France. He served as Chief of State of France from 1873 to 1 ...

and Avenue d' Iéna # Axis Avenue de

Wagram Deutsch-Wagram (literally "German Wagram", ), often shortened to Wagram, is a village in the Gänserndorf District, in the state of Lower Austria, Austria. It is in the Marchfeld Basin, close to the Vienna city limits, about 15 km (9 mi) northeas ...

and Avenue Kléber # Axis Avenue Hoche and Avenue Victor-Hugo # Axis Avenue de Friedland and Avenue

Foch Ferdinand Foch ( , ; 2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929) was a French general and military theorist who served as the Supreme Allied Commander during the First World War. An aggressive, even reckless commander at the First Marne, Flanders and Ar ...

# Axis Avenue des Champs-Élysées and Avenue de la Grande Armée which is the ''

'' of Paris # Axis Avenue Marceau and Avenue Carnot

Arrondissements

Paris 20080731 - Place Charles-de-Gaulle 2

The Place Charles de Gaulle (as well as the Arc de Triomphe) is split between the

8th 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

16th 16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and . In English speech, ...

and 17th

arrondissements of Paris The City of Paris is divided into twenty '' arrondissements municipaux'', administrative districts, more simply referred to as ''arrondissements'' (). These are not to be confused with departmental arrondissements, which subdivide the larger F ...

. The 8th arrondissement encompasses the area between Avenue de Wagram and Avenue Marceau. The 16th arrondissement encompasses the area between Avenue Marceau and Avenue de la Grande-Armée. The 17th arrondissement encompasses the area between Avenue de la Grande Armée and Avenue de Wagram.

Literature

'' La Place de l'étoile'' is the title of a novel by French writer

Patrick Modiano Jean Patrick Modiano (; born 30 July 1945), generally known as Patrick Modiano, is a French novelist and recipient of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is a noted writer of autofiction, the blend of autobiography and historical fiction. In ...

Transportation

:''Located near the Métro station:

.'' The square is served by Métro and RER services. Line 1, as well as

RER A RER A is one of the five lines in the Réseau Express Régional (English: Regional Express Network), a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris, France and its suburbs. The line crosses the region from east to west, with all t ...

, run under the Avenue de la Grande-Armée and Champs-Élysées and stop at the station; it also serves as western terminus for Line 2 and Line 6.

Gallery

File:Collier's 1921 Vol 4 Frontispiece -- Paris.jpg, A colourised aerial photograph of the southern side, published in 1921 File:Diadalív (Arc de Triomphe) a Friedland sugárút végéről fényképezve. Fortepan 23035.jpg, left, Place Charles de Gaulle in 1939 File:Place Charles-de-Gaulle from the Arc de Triomphe, July 2001.jpg, Traffic 10-abreast traverses the Place Charles de Gaulle, seen from the top of the Arc de Triomphe File:Arc de Triomphe at night.JPG, The Place de l'Étoile at sunset seen from the Champs-Élysées

References

External links

Satellite image from Google Maps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Place Charles de Gaulle Charles de Gaulle Roundabouts and traffic circles National squares Buildings and structures in the 8th arrondissement of Paris Buildings and structures in the 16th arrondissement of Paris Buildings and structures in the 17th arrondissement of Paris